Ruslan Sadounichy
School teacher, 2020 election comission member, sentenced to 3 1/2 years in penal colony
Former prisoner
Date of birth: 25 October 1987
Date of detention: 29 September 2021
Charges indicted:
- Art. 364 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies
- Art. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
- Art. 366 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat against an official performing official duties or another person performing a public duty
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
Sentence: 4 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Prison sentence start date: 18 April 2023
Date of release: 16 September 2024
Judge: Mikalai Rachynski
Prosecutor: Liudmila Herasimenka
Notes: Health issues, Pardon / amnesty
Groups: Teachers
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Ruslan Sadounichy is a school teacher of geography. In 2020, he was a member of the precinct election commission and refused to sign the election comission protocol.
He was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: Art. 369 ('Insulting a government official'), Part 1 of Article 130 ('Inciting hatred against law enforcement officers'), and Part 1 of Art. 366 ('Threat against an official performing official duties or another person performing a public duty').
On February 21, 2022, he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a penal colony.
On June 28, 2022, the KGB added the political prisoner to the 'List of persons involved in terrorist activities'.
First Sadounichy was kept in prison #1 in Hrodna. Later he was transferred to penal colony #2 in Babrujsk.
In January 2023, a new criminal case was opened against Ruslan Sadounichy under Art. 364 ('Insulting a government official') and Art. 369 ('Violence or threat of violence against internal affairs officer') of the Criminal Code. The political prisoner was transferred to remand prison #1 in Minsk. Judge Dzmitryi Karsiuk was to consider his case starting from January 31 in the Centraĺny District Court of Minsk.
